The Senate Internal Security Committee voted in favor of the appointment of Alejandro Mayorkas as secretary of internal security, preparing a full Senate vote for confirmation.
The committee voted 7 to 4 to send its nomination to the Senate floor on Tuesday, with an additional vote against the proxy nomination. Republican senators Ron Johnson, James Lankford, Rick Scott, Josh Hawley and Rand Paul voted against the Mayorkas’ advance to full vote in the Senate.
Mayorkas testified before the committee last week.
Johnson led the attack among those who registered his opposition, voicing concerns about the 2015 report by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) inspector general, which concluded that Mayorkas pushed for approval of program requests for wealthy immigrant investors on behalf of Democrats well connected when he served as director of the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
“My preference would have been not to wash these dirty clothes publicly. I hoped that President Biden would have more common sense to nominate and carry out the nomination,” said the outgoing president. He later added: “I had a good working relationship with Mr. Mayorkas as assistant secretary of DHS and I hope to work with him in good faith if he is confirmed as secretary. I simply cannot support his appointment and I urge members not to stop. too. ”
Republican Party senators Rob Portman and Mitt Romney expressed their concern about the 2015 report, but ended up voting in favor of taking his appointment to the upper house.
“We just endured a president for more than four years, which I will say generously, he had a relaxed relationship with the truth. And I think we want the highest level of integrity in government positions, ”commented Romney, noting that Mayorkas’ acknowledged his mistakes in a private conversation and vowed to learn from them.
“This is a difficult issue,” admitted Portman. Finally, the Ohio senator argued that Mayorkas’ fate was already sealed. “It will be confirmed. The question is how quickly it will be in place,” he told his colleagues, noting the importance of putting a secretary in charge of DHS after the cyber attack on Solar Winds.
The future Democratic president, Gary Peters, asked colleagues to “expedite” Mayorkas’ confirmation “as much as possible”.
“In fact, every day that this confirmation process is delayed, it puts the American people and our national security at risk from threats posed by domestic terrorism, cyber attacks and the ongoing pandemic and more,” said Peters.
The senators wished Portman well after his announcement that he would retire from the Senate in 2022. Then Romney interrupted with a laugh: “Don’t worry too much about his departure, because he is just organizing his campaign for president.”